


Five Things Sylar Learned about Peter, and One Thing Peter Learned About Him

by lornrocks



Category: Fandom: Heroes
Genre: 5+1, Dancing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kittens, Love, M/M, Music, Slash, Spiders, Tattoos, felix - Freeform, fiveplusone, ignore it, petlar, pylar, so much ooc, this was written forever ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 00:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/855819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lornrocks/pseuds/lornrocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Gabriel finds out that Peter loves music, hates spiders, and wants a kitten, among other things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Things Sylar Learned about Peter, and One Thing Peter Learned About Him

5\. _He can play music, but only when no one is there to listen._

The first time, Gabriel has fallen asleep on Peter's bed, tucked away from the rest of the apartment by the French doors that close his room off from the rest of the space. He's awoken by soft sounds coming in from the living room, and at first, he's not sure what to make of the music.

But then, when he quietly peeks out, he sees Peter, lounged across the couch with an acoustic guitar in his hands, playing along to a CD playing on the coffee table. Peter sings along with it, just barely audible above the sounds of the chords he's playing.

" _Belief is a beautiful armor, it makes for the heaviest sword, like punching underwater, you never can hit who you're trying for..._ "

Gabriel smiles as he realizes exactly what Peter is trying to say, and why he's playing the song. It's not until he's done clapping after Peter has finished the song that he realizes the other man is flushing slightly, looking at him like he just caught him doing something truly embarrassing.

"I didn't know you could play," he says, because he doesn't know what else to, and Peter shrugs.

"I used to play a lot in college. I just wanted to see if I still could."

Without another word, he puts the guitar back in the case and puts it in the closet. Gabriel doesn't see him play it again.

He's not even sure if Peter will ever let himself be that vulnerable again until one day he's walking down the hallway of the hospital, trying to find Peter after his shift so they can grab some groceries, when he hears the faint sound of a piano being played, coming from the rec room.

Sitting there, by himself, is Peter, fingers gracefully moving across the keys as he begins to play "Fur Elise", almost perfectly.

Gabriel watches the smooth lines of Peter's bare wrists as they work to move his hands about, gently coaxing the melody out of the piano.

Peter's eyes are fixed at a spot above the piano, like he's watching something that Gabriel can't see. It's not until a second later when Gabriel realizes that Emma has come to stand behind him, watching the same spot Peter is.

Without saying a word, she smiles at Gabriel, gently taking his hand in hers, and then, suddenly, he can _see_. The bright, beautiful, gorgeous lights and colors floating above the piano, coming from Peter's playing, and Gabriel understands.

He doesn't ask Peter about it when they walk off, shoulder to shoulder. He doesn't want to ruin it.

4\. _He's actually a pretty good dancer._

Peter had went out with some of his fellow medics to some club because they threatened kidnapping if he didn't go. So, he did.

Gabriel calls his phone and unexpectedly gets Hesam, instead.

"Where's Peter?" he asks.

"You're not going to believe this, but he's had just enough drinks to make him actually go out and dance. Dance! Can you believe it?"

Gabriel tries to, he really does, but he can't seem to. Peter is many things, but graceful isn't exactly one of them.

"I can't."

Hesam laughs, and Gabriel suspects that he's been drinking, too.

"You need to get over here, man, right now."

He gives Gabriel the address and a quick walk and one cab ride later, Gabriel is walking into the club, spotting Hesam sitting at one of the booths with some other guys. Without a word, he points towards the floor, and Gabriel turns and just catches the sight of his roommate, dancing in the center of a crowd of people.

His style isn't exactly graceful, but it's completely characteristic of him, and his eyes are closed as he loses himself in the music.

Gabriel is completely stunned, not sure what to say or do, until suddenly, Peter's eyes open and focus right on him. A loose, easy smile appears on his face, and he makes his way through the crowd so he can talk to the other man.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

Gabriel motions vaguely towards the others, shrugging, "Hesam said I should come down here."

Peter nods, smile still on his face, and he grabs Gabriel's hand.

"Come dance with me," he's saying, and Gabriel actually goes with him, watching in awe as Peter easily moves along with the rhythm of the song that's playing, singing along with the parts he knows as he tries his very best to get Gabriel to dance with him.

Eventually, Peter just puts his hands on either side's of the taller man's hips and moves his hands, getting Gabriel to rotate his hips just a little.

"Like this," he insists, and Gabriel ignores the flush crawling up his collar as he does his best to imitate Peter's moves, earning a happy smile when he gets it right.

He ends up escorting a slightly tipsy Peter back to their apartment, and makes sure that the other man has had enough water before falling asleep.

He lays awake that night, trying to forget the way those hands felt around him.

3\. _He's terrified of spiders._

For a long, long time, Gabriel thought that the only thing Peter Petrelli feared was failing those he loved.

He was wrong.

They had stayed up the night before talking, and both had dozed off (platonically) on Peter's bed. Peter's alarm buzzes, telling him to get up, and he reaches over to hit the snooze button. Instead of hitting the smooth plastic of his alarm, though, Peter's hand touches something fuzzy. Something that _moves_.

Opening his eyes, Peter takes one look at the thing he's touching before letting out an undignified noise of surprise and moving away, rolling over Gabriel's prone form and off the bed, crowding himself in the corner.

"What?" Gabriel groans, sitting up groggily. His eyes go to the alarm clock, still buzzing, and he spots the reason Peter is so spooked.

Sitting on the nightstand, next to his alarm clock, is a giant, hairy tarantula, its little fangs moving back and forth as it watches them.

"Jesus Christ!" Peter practically shouts, eyeing their new guest with skepticism. "What the fuck is that thing?"

Gabriel leans forward to get a closer look.

"It's your upstair neighbor's pet tarantula. He must have gotten out and crawled through the air ducts."

Peter is too busy freaking out to ask Gabriel how he knew that, and opts instead to frown disdainfully at the bug.

"Don't worry, he's harmless."

Gabriel reaches over and, much to Peter's horror, scoops the tarantula up in his hands, standing easily from the bed as he walks to the kitchen, rummaging through until he a tupperware he can deposit the spider in.

Once little Timmy from upstairs gets his beloved pet back, Gabriel finds Peter standing in the kitchen, coffee in one hand and a faraway look in his eyes.

A closer inspection reveals that Peter's hands are shaking.

"Hey," Gabriel says, before he realizes what he's doing, "It's okay. He's gone."

"I touched it, Gabe, with my own hand. I touched a fucking tarantula."

His eyes widen almost comically, and if Gabriel didn't feel so bad for Peter, he'd start laughing. But he gets what it's like to be afraid of something you can't explain. Irrational fears are funny like that.

"Well, he didn't bite you, so I think you're pretty lucky."

Later that night, he checks Peter's room for more spiders, without being asked. He's woken up by Peter's soft cries of fear as he dreams; Gabriel suspects it's a nightmare. He doesn't need to pry to know what it's about, and instead, gently shakes Peter awake and lets him cling to him until he falls asleep again.

2\. _He has a tattoo._

This time, Gabriel discovers the other man's secret when Peter starts to get sick, having caught something from a patient.

Peter's fever is starting to get worse, and Gabriel is trying in vain to cool the poor man's overheated body down, using ice and fans and anything else he can think of. Eventually, he runs a finger along the bottom of the thin white t-shirt Peter is wearing before nodding resolutely to himself.

"I'm going to take this off of you," he says, even though Peter has fallen into a deep, drug-induced sleep.

Gingerly, he manages to pull the garment off the other man, and is just about to grab a wet cloth to wipe down his overheated skin, when he spots just the hint of something dark on Peter's side. Carefully, he moves Peter's left arm and there it is, a small tattoo on Peter's side.

It's dark script, looping words that spell out "Ti seguiro nel buio" in Italian. Gabriel doesn't know what it means, but he does remember that Peter hadn't had this the whole time that Gabriel has known him (after all, Peter's penchant for walking around shirtless was a fact that Gabriel did not ignore). Once he's sure Peter's fever is starting to go down, Gabriel boots up the laptop and does a search to see what the phrase means.

 _I will follow you into the dark_ , it means.

It's not until a few days later, when Peter's fever has passed, that Gabriel decides to bring it up. Peter doesn't seem surprised, just tilts his head to the side and smiles just the slightest hint of a smile.

"I got it a few months ago. It's a line from a Death Cab song. I just...I don't know. It fits."

Gabriel just nods his head and doesn't say anything.

1\. _He loves animals._

Emma asks if they'll watch her cat for a few days while she goes to visit some relatives in the midwest, and they agree because they just love Emma. Her cat is named Felix, and he's positively the sweetest thing ever.

Gabriel sits at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of tea, when Felix stalks in, making a beeline for Peter, who's standing at the sink and staring off at nothing. Feeling indignant at being ignored, Felix lets out a long, pathetic yowl until Peter sets his coffee down and looks at him.

"Do you miss your mommy, honey?"

The tone of voice he's using is one of those cutesy voices that people use with puppies and babies, but Gabriel isn't the least bit surprised to hear it coming from the other man's mouth.

Peter scoops the cat up in his arms and goes to sit down at the table opposite of Gabriel, planting kisses on the cat's head and stroking his tummy.

"It's okay big guy, your mommy will be home very soon, and then she can rub you behind the ears all you want."

Felix begins to purr, loudly, and Peter smiles crookedly.

"You didn't strike me as a cat person," Gabriel muses, leaning his head on his hand, and Peter laughs.

"I know, but I really do like cats. And dogs, and most animals. Especially poor little lonely ones like this one right here," He accentuates his point by reaching over and gently tapping Felix on the nose so that the cat jerks his head back and then tries to paw playfully back at him.

Gabriel is sad to see Felix go back to Emma, but Peter seems even sadder.

He's not sure what it is that makes him do it, but Gabriel ends up going to the shelter and picking out a five months old, fuzzy, gray kitten. He ties a little pink bow around her neck and promptly deposits her into a surprised Peter's lap.

He stares for a moment, not sure what to say, but then the cat stretches up and sniffs at his nose, their faces gently touching for a second before she moves, rubbing the side of her face against his. It's love at first sight for Peter, who decides to name her Iris (although sometimes, Gabriel overhears him calling her "Ree ree" for short. It's too adorable for words, but he won't ever tell Peter that).

A weird warmth bubble up in Gabriel's chest the first time Peter scoops up Iris and asks "Where's your daddy?" ("Daddy" is the nickname that Gabriel gets, in relation to Iris; Peter calls himself her "pappa".)

Smiling down at the sleeping kitten in his lap, Gabriel decides this was the second best decision he's ever made. The first being, of course, moving in with Peter.

0\. It's not like it's anything special. It's not a special night. Peter is leaning against the wall of the locker room at the hospital, looking utterly exhausted and melancholy. Gabriel finds him there at Hesam's urging, and he silently walks over and offers his arms out to the other man. Peter almost immediately sinks into his arms, sighing with relief.

"I'm sorry Peter," he says, and he can just feel the slight hitch in the other man's breathing as he tries to respond.

"Thank you," is all that he manages to say before he shuts his mouth again, too afraid that he'll break down even more if he allows another word to fall from his lips.

They stand there for a long, long time, until finally, Peter gently extricates from the other man's embrace and leaning back against the wall. This time, a defeated look graces his features.

"Everyone says I'm losing my mind," he sighs, and Gabriel frowns, leaning forward.

"If you're crazy then I must be criminally insane, Peter."

The man in question shrugs one shoulder, shaking his head.

"Am I crazy for trying this hard? Is there something wrong with caring so much?"

His eyes are starting to get shiny, and for a minute, Gabriel thinks about reaching up to wipe away the tears that are threatening to fall, but he holds back the impulse.

"I can't stop myself from caring, I really can't. I've tried, it just doesn't last," Peter continues, pleading brown eyes looking up at his roommate.

"I wish I could feel as much as you do, Pete. You just care so deeply for these people, and you try to help them and save their lives-"

"-That's not what I'm talking about."

Gabriel is startled, shutting his mouth and watching Peter, whose brow furrows as he takes a breath in.

"It started off with Ma," he begins, eyes never leaving Gabriel's face. "She knew right away it would happen. She told me that I was stupid, for helping you, for living with you. But I didn't listen."

Peter reaches a hand up to run through his hair, sighing, and continuing.

"Then Matt Parkman called and told me I was insane. I don't know how he knew, but he did. Then Noah Bennett came by and told me that my mother was worried, and that maybe I should reconsider some things."

Here he pauses to cross his arms, a familiar stance when he was trying to figure something out.

"Next was Claire, then Emma, then Hesam, and finally...well, I'm hoping, you. Do you understand?"

Gabriel's not sure that he does, but the way Peter has suddenly inched forward until their chests were practically touching leaves little room for other ideas.

"I mean, God- You make it so hard not to fall for you, you know? You're brilliant, and funny, and gorgeous, and sweet. You comfort me when I've had a bad day, you take me to dinner, you help me get dressed when I'm running late, you make coffee for me every morning, you always, always have something nice to say, you don't mind that I work late, you save me from giant spiders, you take care of me when I'm sick, and you got me a kitten. A kitten! I can't believe how lucky I am that I-"

Peter's little speech gets cut off when Gabriel leans down and catches Peter's lips with his own, hands gently sliding around to take a hold of Peter's hips. He pulls away, observing a dazed Peter watching him before he blurts, "I love you."

Peter's eyebrows raise and Gabriel actually laughs a little before reaching up to gently cup Peter's face in his hand.

"I've been in love with you since we were still trapped inside my head, Peter. I was just wondering if you were ever going to feel the same way."

Peter thinks for a moment, subconsciously darting his tongue out to lick his lips before replying, carefully, "Well, I do."

Gabriel nods.

"Yeah, I guessed that from that whole speech thing."

He pulls Peter back to him, letting their lips do all the talking as they sway gently to music only they can hear. It's not until they hear someone behind them whistling that they pull apart, looking like guilty children.

Hesam is standing there, looking far too amused for his own good, and Emma is peeking her head through the doorway. Peter flushes, just a bit, before waving hello and goodnight, grabbing Gabriel's hand and leading him down the hallway and out of the hospital, towards home.

 _Their_ home.

**Author's Note:**

> Written forever ago for LJ.


End file.
